Mental Health - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ وَخَلِيلُهُ، أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى النَّاسِ كَافَّةً بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا، فَبَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الْأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الْأُمَّةَ، وَتَرَكَنَا عَلَى الْمَحَجَّةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لَا يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا إِلَّا هَالِكٌ، فَصَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنِ اهْتَدَى بِهَدْيِهِ وَاسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ وَدَعَا بِدَعْوَتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

أَحِبَّتِي فِي اللَّهِ، أُوصِيكُمْ وَنَفْسِي بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مُحْسِنُونَ

This World Is a Place of Trial

My brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah for He is indeed deserving and worthy of our constant thanks and gratitude and praise, and I send blessings and salutations upon our beloved messenger Muhammad, salawatullahi wa salamuhu alayh.

Something that is known to all of us yet we often forget is that Allah — when He brought us into this world — it was never meant to be a place of rest and enjoyment. Rather, it is a place of tribulation and a test from Allah. You're not meant to live your life only in enjoyment and in pleasure. This is what the hereafter is for. This is what Jannah is for — may Allah make us among those that enter Jannah, ameen.

So once you understand that as a Muslim, you understand that some days will be better and other days will be worse, that sometimes Allah will test you with illness, Allah will test you with calamities, and other days Allah will bless you with ni'am and blessings. Life goes up and down and the days are not the same — this is a fact of life.

In fact, when the scholars discuss some of the hikam — some of the wisdoms — behind Adam alayhi salam, our father, and Hawa descending from the heavens and coming to earth, the hubut that happened when they descended — they left Jannah. If they always resided in Jannah and their children, and as a result humanity and us, also resided in Jannah, we would have never appreciated Jannah — a place where there is no ta'ab, no illness. We wouldn't have appreciated that because we would not have known otherwise. But now that you have lived in this world with its difficulty, a place without any of these calamities or difficulties or troubles has a lot more meaning, and people would appreciate it more. May Allah make us of those who appreciate it and go to Jannah.

Allah Is the True Healer — الشَّافِي

So, ikhwani fillah, among the realities of life is that we go through sicknesses and illness — and this is what I want to discuss in this khutbah. We will get sick, and that could sometimes be physical, it could be mental, it could be any number of things. And this is part of the qadar and the qadah of Allah, jalla jalaluhu.

What I want to focus on is: yes, we get sick, but we know it's because of the qadar of Allah — but how do we then gain health? How do we get cured? And it is very important, ikhwani fillah, to understand: yes, we go to our local GPs, we go to specialists, we go through surgeries, we take medications, we vaccinate ourselves — but al-haqiqah is, ikhwani fillah, the truth of the matter is that there is no health except the health that Allah provides. Among His beautiful names, ikhwani fillah, is Ash-Shafi — the Healer, the Curer. It is Allah that heals and cures. And that aqidah — that belief — must be present in the heart of every Muslim.

It ain't the medication or the vaccinations or the doctors — none of that — or the raqi that reads the Quran on you. They are not the ones who possess the power to give health and to cure. It is Allah, jalla jalaluhu. And once your heart is connected to Allah and you know only Allah heals, only Allah cures, then all of these means that we use — the doctor, the raqi, the mental health specialists — you would see them as a means, but your heart is always connected to your Creator.

And Allah can heal you without you going to the GP. And Allah can heal you without ruqya. And Allah can heal you the way He wants, jalla jalaluhu, because He is Al-Shafi. But He, jalla jalaluhu, and our messenger ﷺ has told us to use these means to find health from Allah, jalla jalaluhu.

So it's important you distinguish the two: when you take the medicine, the medicine doesn't heal — it's Allah. Why do you take the medicine? Because Allah told you, the Prophet ﷺ told you in a hadith:

"Seek medicine, cure yourselves — and do not use any haram means." (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 3874; also referenced in Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3436)

And Allah says in the Quran regarding the Quran itself:

The Quran is a means of health. You have to understand these two facts: one, Allah is the Healer. Two, Allah has given us ways to get health and to cure ourselves — but you don't rely on them alone.

Three Key Questions About Illness

And often this happens, ikhwani fillah. What I want to focus on more specifically today is — now that we have understood:

Why do we get sick? It is a test from Allah. Prophet Ayub was sick for a very long time — Allah was testing him — and Allah tests us with difficulties.

How do we get better? Allah is the Healer.

How do we then ask Allah to heal us? Through du'a, and through seeking conventional medicine as the Prophet ﷺ said, and through the Quran and the adhkar — all of the above.

Types of Illness: Physical, Spiritual, and Mental

Now ikhwani fillah, the types of sicknesses that we deal with include physical ones — you have a cough, or you're diabetic, or cancer, or any of these numbers of things. These are physical, something that can be looked at through a microscope or can be seen and touched. Physical illnesses have their means of healing — you go to a doctor, you go through whatever medication you're given, but you rely on Allah, and you recite the Quran yourself.

Then we have, ikhwani fillah, spiritual illnesses. These spiritual illnesses are when you're suffering from low iman — when the Quran is recited and your heart doesn't move, when the prayer doesn't affect you. You require dhikr. Indeed, with the remembrance of Allah do the hearts find tranquility, and it is Allah that provides that. And those are illnesses that we neglect. When you have arrogance that you must deal with — these things are also illnesses that happen to our hearts. They're known as amrad al-qulub.

And finally, the one that I want to focus on today, ikhwani fillah — something that is very prevalent today — are mental illnesses. People that are suffering from mental illnesses, something that we as a community sometimes neglect or fail to understand. And you have to remember: as Muslims, our religion, ikhwani fillah, is a religion that respects ilm and understanding. Allah says in the Quran:

Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know.

Mental Illness: Causes and the Islamic Approach

Now, people that suffer from anxiety or depression or eating disorders or other disorders — bipolar and all of these things — these come as a result of many factors. Sometimes they are external: someone went through trauma, they saw their family get killed, they were abused, or any of these things, and then as a result they are dealing with mental illness. Or sometimes it could be the qadar of Allah — it could be ibtila' from Allah — or it could be something that they were born with. It could be any number of things.

But as Muslims, yes, the factors are important to understand and risks should be mitigated — this is part of taking the asbab. But what we need to understand is: now when we have someone in front of us that is suffering from a mental illness, they should be dealt with the same way as the one that is suffering from a physical illness. Meaning what? Remember: it is an ibtila' from Allah, Allah is testing you. Number two, remember only Allah cures. Number three, there is a cure — every illness has a cure — like the Prophet ﷺ told us:

"Allah has not sent down a disease except that He has sent down a cure for it." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5678)

And then you take the means: number one, recite the Quran, perform dhikr, recite the Quran on yourself or on the ill person — this is something we often neglect. Similarly, use the conventional medicine and the medical professionals and the health professionals' advice and take it as well — because we have to take both, ikhwani fillah.

And remember: do we rely on the therapists or the psychotherapists and think they provide health? No — Allah is the one that gives. But we go through the means, the asbab — we must.

The Quran as Healing — The Story of Surah Al-Fatiha

I want to share with you, first of all, something as an ummah we have neglected — which is using the Quran as a form of health. When was the last time that you had a headache and you were like, let me recite Surah Al-Fatiha? Often we get some paracetamol or ibuprofen — this is where we start. And again, are you wrong for having the ibuprofen? No, that's not wrong — especially if you know Allah is the one that provides health and you're using this halal means. But how often do you think of the Quran as a form of health? We only go usually to the Quran when it's something related to hasad or ayn or jinn or sihr — then we tend to go to the Quran, and that's our go-to, which is good and we should. But:

Like the hadith that is narrated in the Sahihayn of Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri, radiyaAllahu anhu — Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri was travelling, and this is the companion of the Prophet ﷺ, and while they were travelling they requested from a family — who weren't Muslims — to host them, out of kindness, to host the men because they were travellers and they needed. And they refused. So then they camped elsewhere and were not hosted or taken care of.

Later on, a scorpion bit one of the men from amongst those people, and he was in extreme pain. So one of them went to the camp of the Muslims where Abu Sa'id was, radiyaAllahu anhu, and said, "Hal fikum raqin?" — is there a man who does ruqya among you? And they said, yes — but what will you give us in return, because earlier you rejected us? And they said we will give you whatever you ask for, and they agreed.

This is when Abu Sa'id went to the man. What was his problem? Did he have ayn or hasad or sihr? No — he was bitten by a scorpion, venom, poison. Something physical, something you can see. He recited Surah Al-Fatiha on him and immediately he became better. They were given some goats and sheep, and they went back to the Prophet ﷺ. The sahaba weren't sure if they could actually accept this or not, so they didn't touch them and they asked, "Ya Rasulullah, this and this happened." And the Prophet ﷺ was amazed and said:

"And how did you know that Al-Fatiha is a ruqya?" (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5736; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2201)

— and how did you know that Surah Al-Fatiha is a shifa', the one that heals — of course with the permission of Allah. So here you have the recitation of some Quran healing a physical ailment — a scorpion bite. So don't assume the Quran is only for the spiritual, only for jinn and sihr. Don't assume that.

Using All Available Means — Therapy Is Not Un-Islamic

Similarly, my brothers and sisters — and this is very important as well — when someone is going through mental health issues or a mental illness, do not assume that there is no other means of acquiring health except the Quran. No. The Quran is one of the hulul — it's the main hal, the main solution — but also, there is nothing wrong with using therapy, there is nothing wrong with using medication, there is nothing wrong with using these things if they work.

And remember — the Prophet ﷺ said, heal yourself but do not use any haram means. That is the condition: if they work and they are halal — these are the two conditions. If they work, and there is actual benefit in it — if therapy is going to help someone, let them go to therapy. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, we should encourage it.

Similarly, we should recite the Quran on everyone and ourselves as well. My brothers and sisters, we tend to call other people to recite Quran when we are sick or our children are sick — we should do it ourselves. This is the most effective one. Many people don't understand this: it is more effective when you recite the Quran on yourselves. This is what you should do, because you know what you need from Allah. You are more sincere to your cause. You are more worried about yourself than the one who is a stranger who walks into your home. This is very important.

The Story of Prophet Musa and Reliance on Allah

And remember — it is Allah that heals. Have your heart connected to Allah.

And finally, I want to finish with the story that is narrated about Prophet Musa, alayhi salam. It's been narrated that he became sick and he asked Allah to heal him. And Allah told him to eat from a certain tree or a certain food, and he did, and he became better. Then he got sick again and he went to the same place, but this time it didn't work. And when he spoke to Allah and asked Him, Allah said: the first time you asked Me, and the second time you didn't — showing you the importance of tawakkul and reliance on Allah.

Whenever you are taking that medication, whenever you are taking that injection, whenever you are going through that surgery — remember, Allah is the Healer. Have your heart connected to Allah. Make du'a to Allah.

"O Allah, You are the Healer. There is no cure except Your cure — a cure that leaves no illness behind." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5742; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2191)

My brothers and sisters, I conclude here insha'Allah. We ask Allah to grant us all health — physical, spiritual, and mental — and to keep our hearts connected to Him always. Ameen.